A Preface to Economic Democracy

Robert Dahl makes a disciplined, accessible argument that most of us have not examined: if democracy requires political equality, and concentrated corporate ownership creates the kind of resource inequality that undermines political equality, then democratic principles logically extend into the economic sphere. His proposed remedy — worker self-governance and cooperative enterprise — is philosophically coherent and grounded in American democratic values rather than imported ideology. That is the book's real strength. The caveats are honestly stated: this is a 1985 academic monograph, some economic context has shifted, and the cooperative model he advocates remains largely unimplemented and contested. Readers from free-market perspectives will push back on the premises. For students of democratic theory and political economy, it is a foundational and still-relevant text.